Chico State men prevail in Double OT; Home teams reign supreme in NFL Playoffs

The Chico State men’s basketball team is in a tie for first in the CCAA after gritting their way through two games this weekend without top scorer and rebounder, Robert Duncan.

The Cats knocked off San Francisco State 60-51 on Friday in a grind-it-out affair sweeping the season series from the Gators. Saturday night saw the Cats trailing for most of the game against a Sonoma State team that had beaten them in late December behind the super-human effort of James Davis (33 points/30 in the 2nd half) in Rohnert Park. On this night it was the Wildcats who would outlast Sonoma and Davis winning in Double OT 75-70. It marked a big weekend for the Wildcats showing they could win two tough games against tough opponents without Duncan.

Corey Silverstrom scored 21 on Saturday and Jalen McFerren scored 18 as Chico moves to 14-3 overall, 12-3 against Division-II opponents and 8-2 in CCAA play. The Cats are in a flat-footed tie with UC San Diego who stumbled at Monterey Bay on Saturday. Humboldt State and Cal Poly Pomona both sit one game back after Humboldt split their weekend match-ups and Pomona was stunned on back-to-back nights on the road versus Cal State LA and Dominguez Hills.

Chico only plays one game over the next 12 days as they travel to San Diego to take on Cal State San Marcos on Thursday. Chico beat the Cougars in early December after McFerren buried a 60-foot heave as time expired giving Chico an improbable 83-82 win. You can hear the game on Newstalk 1290 KPAY and right here on KpaySports.com

The Butte College Roadrunner men’s basketball team lost their first road game of the Golden Valley Conference season. The Shasta Knights nipped the Roadrunners 71-61. Butte was led by Josiah Wood with 23 points.

Butte only trailed by one at the break but went eight minutes without a bucket to start the second half and that would doom them. Butte now sits at 12-7 overall and 1-1 in the GVC

(AP) — The AFC and NFC championship game matchups are set. The Denver Broncos will be home against the New England Patriots, and the Carolina Panthers will host the Arizona Cardinals.

The Broncos have advanced by rallying in the fourth quarter of a 23-16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers led 13-12 with less than 10 minutes left when cornerback Bradley Roby punched the ball from Fitzgerald Toussaint’s arms before teammate DeMarcus Ware recovered at the Denver 35. Peyton Manning led a methodical drive into the end zone as C.J. Anderson scored the go-ahead touchdown on a one-yard run before Demaryius (deh-MAR’-ee-uhs) Thomas caught the 2-point conversion for a 20-13 lead with three minutes remaining.

Pittsburgh’s last opportunity to tie the game ended on Ware’s sack of Ben Roethlisberger on the next drive. Brandon McManus iced the victory with his fifth field goal of the game, a 45-yarder with 53 seconds left. The five field goals tied an NFL playoff record.

Manning was victimized by several drops, yet he was able to complete 21 of his 37 throws for 222 and no interceptions. Anderson finished with 72 yards on 15 carries.

Roethlisberger threw for 339 yards, with Martavis (mahr-TAY’-vihs) Bryant grabbing nine passes for 154 yards as the featured receiver in place of the injured Antonio Brown.

The Broncos are in the AFC title game for the second time since 2005. They had lost three of their four previous divisional playoff games.

In Sunday’s NFC divisional game, the Panthers carried a 31-0 lead into the second half before holding off the Seattle Seahawks 31-24. Carolina built its lead on two touchdown runs by Jonathan Stewart, a TD pass by Cam Newton, a pick-six by Luke Kuechly (KEEK’-lee) and a 48-yard field goal by Graham Gano (guh-NOH’).

However, the Panthers couldn’t move the ball in the second half, allowing the Seahawks to close their deficit. Russell Wilson threw two of his three touchdown passes to Jermaine Kearse before Steven Hauschka’s (HOWSH’-kahz) 36-yard field goal got Seattle within a touchdown with 1:12 remaining. The Seahawks’ rally ended when the Panthers recovered the onside kick.

Stewart finished with 106 yards rushing on 19 carries for the Panthers, including a 59-yard burst on the first play from scrimmage. Newton completed 16 of his 22 passes for 161 yards and no interceptions.

Wilson’s two interceptions led to 10 Carolina points. Kearse finished with 11 receptions for 110 yards, and Wilson was 31 of 48 for 366 yards.

The Panthers are in the NFC title game for the fourth time, and first since 2005.

In all four divisional playoff games this weekend the home teams prevailed.

(AP) — Kentavious Caldwell-Pope held his own against Stephen Curry for most of the night, scoring 20 points as the Detroit Pistons handed the Golden State Warriors their second loss in three games, 113-95 on Saturday.

Much of the pregame talk centered around how well Caldwell-Pope might be able to defend Curry. The Golden State star scored 38 points, but Caldwell-Pope gave the Pistons a boost offensively. The Warriors (37-4) reached the midway point of the regular season a win short of the best 41-game start in NBA history. The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers and 1995-96 Chicago Bulls started 38-3.

Detroit retired Ben Wallace’s No. 3 jersey at halftime, and by that time the Pistons led 65-49 on a raucous night at the Palace.

The Warriors have a showdown match-up against the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in Cleveland. Golden State knocked of the Cavs in 6 games to capture the 2015 NBA FINALS Championship in June and also beat Cleveland in Oakland on Christmas Day.

J.J. Redick scored 22 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and reserve Jamal Crawford added 20 points for the Clippers, who were tied with the idle Spurs for longest active win streak in the NBA.

Chris Paul, who finished with 15 points, hit two free throws that drew the Clippers to 104-101 with a minute left. Rajon Rondo turned the ball over on a bad pass, but his former Celtics teammate Paul Pierce missed a 3-pointer for Los Angeles and Rudy Gay grabbed the rebound. Gay got fouled and made the first and missed the second, leaving the Kings ahead 105-101.

PHOTO COURTESY of Chico State Athletics go to ChicoWildcats.com for more Wildcat news

This week we break down some of the exciting match-ups from last weekend. The “Classic” played between Pleasant Valley and Valley Christian. The thriller at Harrison between Paradise and Encinal. And, we look at wins by Foothill, Anderson and West Valley.

We also preview one of the more competitive weekends in years in high school football with Shasta hosting West Valley, Lassen at Foothill, Red Bluff at Orland, Colusa at Durham, Maxwell and Fall River and two (3-0) teams going at it in Willows and Williams

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The Biggs Wolverines were ready to celebrate. With 6:04 remaining they had just completed a 9-minute drive to grab a 21-7 lead over the defending Division V champion Fall River Bulldogs.

But the heart of a champion should never be underestimated. The Bulldogs would drive 60 yards in 2:55 seconds to cut the deficit to 21-14. Then, after recovering an on-side kick the Bulldogs were trying to pull off one of the great comebacks in North Section Championship history. With no timeouts the Bulldogs had a 1st and goal from the Biggs 7 yard line. After a couple of runs nudged the ball to the 3, Fall River’s chances looked to be dim after a fumbled snap. What would follow would be some of the most dramatic North Section Championship football in years.

Check out the video below as we provide the play-by-play as heard right here on KpaySports.com and the KpaySports app……